Germany

Germany announces hike in renewables levy

GERMANY: The German federal energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur has just announced a sharp increase in the renewables levy to be paid by electricity consumers from the beginning of 2013.

The levy will amount to €0.05277/kWh, up from €0.03592/kWh in 2012. The sharp hike is in good part due to increasing wind and other renewables generation on the system causing a fall in the wholesale market price of power.

This has increased the gap between the wholesale price and the feed-in tariff rates that the levy has to cover.

The average wholesale spot market price in the first 9 months of 2012 amounted to just €0.04//kWh, compared with €0.051/kWh in the equivalent period of 2011, the renewables energy federation BEE Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energien pointed out.

The increasingly criticised widespread renewables levy relief enjoyed by industry also has an impact because industry's savings in 2013 - running to around Eur 4.7 billion according to the BEE - have to be shouldered by normal consumers.